What hi fi system you got ?

[Magsy]

LGF and GreenStiles, thanks for getting back to me about my hi-fi and the Mission speakers.

Up until recently, I was using a pair of JPW Gold Monitors --

I've isolated the tracks where the treble frequencies make uncomfortable listening, and as LGF suggested, it seems to have more to do with the actual recording than it does with my hi-fi. For example, pronunciation of the letter "S" on Lloyd Cole's "Perfect Skin" seems to be harsh no matter what equipment you've got. And it's the same story for the snare drum at the beginning of "Perfect" by The The. So on that count, maybe it's the recordings rather than my equipment.
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I had those speakers when I was a kid, I loved em, pretty good for a small box.

Never heard these tracks before but Lloyd Coles Perfect Skin is pretty nice sounding for me (lossless rip), it has a certain 'clarity' to the leading edges but no sibilance or over prominance and I'm normally pretty sensitive, treble is always my problem, too much or too little, never right! I could produce a much worse list recordings so I don't think that track is too bad.

Creating a synergy amongst your kit is important, you can live with some pretty wild components if one is taming the another etc

I bought Kef Q1 for this reason, sticking the tweeter in the middle is a good idea but ultimately failed slightly as it dulled the high end but it is just what I want/like, so much I bought two pairs. Pretty cheap second hand and I use a pair in a home theater rig and they provide all the oomph you'd need a in reasonable room.

 

[ferrus]

JohnH, I think the harshness you mention is something many of us suffer, even with high end kit. It's one of the problems inherent to most CD players with 'brick-wall' filtering. A lot of modern tweeters exacerbate the problem too.
You may strike lucky with the Missions - some models did have a very hot top end, but I think this was addressed in the mid '90 with a more restrained tweeter ('i' series maybe?)

One of the most important factors for sound quality which can have a very surprising effect on 'harshness' and confusion/congestion when the music gets busy, is room acoustics. I've heard my system sound thin, messy and piercingly shrill and have wondered what the hell's wrong. But in a different room with plenty of damping and space behind the speakers, the relaxed, full-bodied sound has returned. It's the 'singing in the bathroom' principle; all that resonance causes a right distorted mess. The confused sound is understandable, but whats surprising is how harsh and thin it can get. ..Perhaps adding some soft furnishings to dampen things down might help?
It's also well worth trying some simple isolation of the equipment and maybe speakers. I've had my kit sat on cushions, innertubes, sandbags etc. Don't laugh! - all this helps to calm things down and relax the sound, and might also pacify that aggressive treble a bit.

 

[xerxes]

Try the clap test, if it sounds echoey, then the rome is "live", which is far from ideal for sound, you get multiple echoes and the sound is confused and congested at the top end and perhaps muddy and boomy at the bottom end.

Ideally you want a fairly "dead" room. The trend for minimalist furniture and open plan rooms with lots of hard surfaces, uncarpeted floors and bare walls is bad for sound. You can spend a lot on acoustic tiles, bass traps etc. to rectify this, or, if you're like me, just have plenty of clutter in the room.

http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/roomacoustics.html

 

[ferrus]

yeah, uncovered laminate floorings are bad - sofas, messy bookcases etc are good.

..So draw the curtains and glue egg boxes to all hard surfaces immediately - it's a hi-fi requisite!

 

[xerxes]

glue egg boxes to all hard surfaces immediately

Good luck getting that one past SWMBO.

 

[ferrus]

glue egg boxes to all hard surfaces immediately

Good luck getting that one past SWMBO.

well, I've been liberated from any such unreasonable constraints! .. to be fair the ex missus was very accomodating....

I've got the Alon speakers sat on pillow-sandbags, which are sitting on massive slabs - held off the floor by three wooden cones.
..I'm not gonna mention the 'ingenious' efforts employed to isolate the CD player!

 

[Magsy]

The answer is headphones!! No accoustic problems, no other half problems, no neighbour problems and you can buy something seriously seriously high end for a lot less than speakers of that quality

 

[xerxes]

I've got some nice headphones and a decent headphone amp, all good, but it's not the same as listening to speakers; especially when you add a subwoofer for some serious trouser flapping bass.

 

[Magsy]

Bah, get yourself a proper setup and you trousers will flap but not from the bass

My ß22 headphone amp, all discrete, balanced input/output. 50w per channel into 8 ohms

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjAqt16N



A TDA1543 DAC I built, sounds a lot bigger than it looks:


I have a pretty decent incar setup too : http://flic.kr/s/aHsjuTfv5u

I have active crossover, eq and time alignment. Seas Lotus Ref 2x6.5" 2x1", Genesis four channel, simple and sweet. It is EQed with an RTA to be fairly flat. I must have turned a corner because I never put the sub in, small car with super sealed doors, plenty of bass

 

[ferrus]

Looks like impressive stuff (not that I've much of a clue what I'm looking at)

..50wpc headphone amp? - that'd be too much power for most Horn speakers!